Hello, everyone. I’m a huge fan of going to the movies, so I decided a while ago that I’d take some time to review ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ for the site! The LeBron James-led sequel is the perfect intersection of two of my favorite things — movies and the Lakers — so I’m definitely pumped to finally be seeing it!
Below will be my free-flowing thoughts as I watch this movie. Here’s your SPOILER WARNING if you don’t want very specific details from the movie ruined for you. If you don’t really care about that, well, enjoy the crazy stuff from this movie!
Oh, and although this movie is for kids, this article may not be. Parental discretion is advised!
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A Nintendo GameBoy! The kids of 2021 are already confused. And what the hell? His childhood coach is Avon Barksdale from The Wire. Sweet!
How dare they include the Christmas Day Heat-Lakers alley-oop from Dwyane Wade to LeBron during this intro title sequence.
Speaking of that initial title sequence, I’m about to make the first of (probably) many comparisons to Michael Jordan’s ‘Space Jam’ from 1995. Nothing will ever beat that title sequence from the first movie. Probably one of the more iconic movie openings…ever?
Dang. LeBron James seems like a real dick of a father.
We have our first Warner Bros. movie references! Batman, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter right off the bat. Also, for my DC heads out there, they should have had LeBron dressed as the Joker instead of Mr. Freeze.
“The computer’s Black”. Okay, they got a genuine laugh out of me.
Time to set up the plot of the movie. LeBron has to play a game of basketball to get his youngest son out of Al G. Rhythm’s (the villian of the movie played by Don Cheadle) Warner Bros. Serververse. If he doesn’t play, he and his son will be stuck there forever. If he does play, he gets released and Al G. Rhythm gets…notoriety? I don’t know. Oh, and yes, his name is a very on-the-nose reference to the word “algorithm” which gets a lot of use in this movie.
They made me laugh again! LeBron reversing his head hair and beard hair after falling into the Looney Tunes universe. Great Looney Tunes gag.
IT’S MF BUGS BUNNY IN THE FLESH, BABY. And he’s immediately trying to run LeBron over with an ACME truck.
Bugs Bunny is now drunk on carrot juice. Before he became inebriated, he explained that all the other Looney Tunes were lured out of the Looney Tunes world into other worlds of the serververse by, you guessed it, Al. G Rhythm.
“Look out, Lakers”. Um. Sir. LeBron is NEVER leaving the Lakers.
I love all the references to LeBron’s time in Cleveland, Miami, and now L.A. The jokes are actually kinda funny.
The Looney Tunes are objectively funny. Daffy Duck especially.
I don’t even know where to begin with the montage we just saw. Mad Max: Fury Road. Rick and Morty. Casablanca. The grandma character was in The Matrix checking her Twitter. All I know is that LeBron James’ outfits in the settings of Mad Max, Casablanca, and The Matrix were AMAZING.
Lola Bunny referenced the first ‘Space Jam’ saying “been there, done that” in response to Bugs saying they get to play basketball with an NBA superstar. However, in this movie, they decided to turn down her sex appeal since…well…we shouldn’t have men online getting worked up about a cartoon bunny anymore.
BOOM. We have the first appearance of our Goon Squad. Anthony Davis (LET’S GOOOO), Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Diana Taurasi, and Nneka Ogwumike.
The Knicks are having a terrible time in movies in the past year. They got a joke made at their expense in this one while Doris Burke did the same in the movie ‘Soul’.
IT’S TIME FOR AN EXPLOSION OF WARNER BROS. CHARACTERS EVERYONE HOLD ON.
Let’s have Lil Rel Howery replace Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley on Inside the NBA. We’d probably get the same amount of basketball analysis on top of better jokes.
Before this game starts, I just have to point out something that’s been brewing in my brain. Did I really see Austin Powers earlier? I hope no kids ask their parents to watch that movie after this one is over.
PLOT TWIST. If LeBron James loses, he, his son, and everyone who was zapped into the game have to stay in the serververse forever. In addition, the Looney Tunes will all be DELETED. The stakes are high, arguably higher than the 2016 NBA Finals.
Ummmm. LeBron is being too mean to AD. That was quite the rude line about his unibrow!
“He’s like Superman, but with a high-top fade.”
Is it “Pete” or “Scott Brooks” reffing this game, folks?!
LeBron is giving serious “J.R. Smith Game 1 of the NBA Finals” looks to his teammates.
Damian Lillard is the “King Stopper”, huh? That’s not really how it went in the 2020 NBA Playoffs but that’s neither here nor there.
HEY! It’s the aliens from the first ‘Space Jam’! To be honest, I kinda wish they were playing in this game.
Hahahaha okay. The Michael B. Jordan cameo is pretty great. What a great build-up to it.
LeBron did the face!!! THE FACE!!!
The Notorious P.I.G. scene is as bad as everyone said it was. There is no way kids even like this.
Hahahaha wait. They just put Don Cheadle in a red sweater to do a BOB KNIGHT chair-throwing reference? Come on!
Wait! Did they just do a Bill Belicheck reference too with his clothes?! Hahahaha.
Wile E. Coyote is the literal MVP of this game with that machine he brought out. Or was it Roadrunner? Who gets the points and who gets the assists?! Bill Simmons needs to know for his podcast on Monday!
Wow, there are a lot of references to “The Matrix” for a 2021 kids movie.
I’d recap how this movie is ending but I’m too busy looking at Jim Carrey’s ‘The Mask’ on the sidelines.
Oh, we’re still playing this game? I just want to note that the LeBron James version of Don Cheadle will haunt me long after I’m done watching this.
THE TUNES WIN, BABY! THE TUNES WINNNNNNNNNN. AL G IS A LITERAL POSTER. REST IN PEACE, BOZO!
Okay…that movie was really not that bad. In fact, it was pretty enjoyable! The closing game of the movie probably went 15-20 minutes too long for my liking, but overall I enjoyed myself! A lot was made about the cringey-ness of clips from the trailer and the commercials, but it really seems like they took all the cringe-filled lines and put them in the marketing of this movie (bold move but oh well). There really weren’t many moments that made me roll my eyes that I hadn’t already seen through trailers.
Give it a try if you like LeBron or the NBA in general, and definitely give it a watch if you have kids!
